The Truth According to Us

Annie Barrows, celebrated co-author of the global bestseller The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, once again evokes the charm and eccentricity of a small town filled with extraordinary characters.

In the summer of 1938, Layla Beck is forced out of the lap of luxury and sent by her Senator father to work on the Federal Writers' Project, a New Deal jobs program. Assigned to cover the history of the little mill town of Macedonia, West Virginia, Layla envisions a summer of tedium.

However, once she secures a room in the home of the unconventional Romeyn family, she is completely drawn into their complex world.

At the Romeyn house, twelve-year-old Willa is desperate to acquire her favourite virtues - ferocity and devotion - a search that leads her into a thicket of mysteries, including the questionable business with which her charismatic father is always occupied and the reason her adored aunt Jottie never married.

Layla's arrival strikes a match to the family's veneer, bringing to light buried secrets that will tell a different tale about the Romeyns and their deep entanglement in Macedonia's history. As Willa peels back the layers of her family's story, and Layla delves deeper into town legend, everyone involved is transformed – and their personal histories completely rewritten.

Quirky, loveable, and above all human, this novel of small-town life in the 1930s is an immersive experience that will leave readers reeling and wanting more.

Read Caroline Baum's Review

The Truth According To Us is Annie Barrows' eagerly awaited follow up to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society: this looks meaty and less quaint than the book that earned barrows a global following.

It's 1938 and Macedonia West Virginia is celebrating its sesquicentenary when Layla Beck is sent by her exasperated father, a senator, to pen the town's first official history as part of the Federal Writers Project.

The Federal Writers Project was a real initiative introduced by President Roosevelt as part of the New Deal. Early pages are promisingly engaging and delivered in a wry voice that suggests Layla Beck delivers a very different version of history than Macedonia's citizens might have anticipated.

About the Author

Annie Barrows is the author of the children's series Ivy and Bean, as well as The Magic Half and Magic in the Mix; she is also co-author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Annie lives in Northern California with her husband and her two daughters.